flakmagnet

The journal is exceptional and your efforts to share it with us are very much appreciated.

I'll believe that line of thinking when the shipping log jam opens up and Minelab reduces their prices accordingly. It won't happen.

I was dredging years ago in a river in the motherlode. There was a lot of slate on the bottom. At one point my partner and I chunked out about three feet of slate in broken sheets. At the bottom of that was a 4 dwt nugget. Go figure. It was not the only time, but it was the deepest. Is there clay between the sheets? That is a good indicator that gold can make its way down between the sheets. Good luck

Nice work!

Have fun.

Chill gold is good gold. I like your attitude.

This is probably neither here nor there, but in the mid and late 1800s when mining claims first became the proper way of having a legal and exclusive use of a piece of land to recover minerals, the claimant either lived on, or adjacent to, the land or had live-on caretakers. | The other aspect of the early days was there was a very swift and specific way that claim jumpers were dealt with that probably helped some. But that whole way of owning and protecting claims has gone bye the boards. I don't condone claim jumping - at all…I don't think any of us do, but there have been times when I've gone onto claimed land by mistake - there was absolutely no indication that the land was claimed - and Federal law specifies claims must be clearly and legibly marked. Nowadays especially, with people being even more wound up than usual, it becomes a potentially weird situation to confront anyone about almost anything - much less gold in the ground, but it seems that people who blatantly and clandestinely claim-jump on clearly marked areas are in a special category of selfish criminality and should be dealt with as such.

Heck, just draw Groucho or a mustache on the mask. Viola! Double disguise!

A well-meaning suggestion: keep the HipStick for when your shoulder and back begin to suffer, it will help you. This is not being sarcastic at all. Even JP, who, compared to us, is huge, even he has suffered damage from swinging detectors. We may not do it full-time the way he is able to do at times, but the cumulative wear and tear will eventually appear. When it does, you will quickly get over feeling hemmed in by bungie's etc. if it means you aren't able to detect because of intense physical discomfort.

That's interesting Simon. I am about the same stature as you, I run a 7000 and if I did not have a HipStick I don't think I would be able to lug it around for multiple hours the way I do now, in terrain very similar to yours as well. It has become an integral part of my detecting and I hardly notice I am wearing it. Oh and did I mention my shoulder and back pain is gone?

As i understand it Chris P. does not manufacture them any more. He is a member of the forum, maybe he can clarify...

Have you ever seen a dowser at work? I have. They are used where I used to go in the Sierras to find water for digging a well, and they almost always did. There are some incredibly accurate practitioners out there.

I just snip them off and replace with a plastic tie. It works great.

I also have had good success running the 7000 with hot settings and low-ish volume. As I say almost every time I post, my hunting place at the moment produces very small gold as a rule. I have had wonderful success with the new NF coil and the settings described just above. Oh, and coil control, working slowly, and staying patient. This is a fun thread - for many reasons. Good job everyone of keeping it between the lines. Happy New Year to everyone, we all deserve one. 👋

I had some hilarious times years ago with Sandtrap. I know you know what I mean Lunk.

Nice work. We passed by your house yesterday driving down from Fairfield. I hoped you were out somewhere fun. Have great Holidays.

Dale, this will have the information put more clearly. Hope you guys are doing well. https://www.zoleo.com/en-us/satellite-communicator/ I have used Garmin products since 1999 and love them. At this point, I like Zoleo better than a Garmin Mini. I am not trying to say anything negative about Garmin. These communicators are personal preference items. I am not trying to change anyone's mind about what to use. What I am trying to do is to inform people there is another product available that - in my opinion - has merit.

I have been seeing an ad for Zoleo at the top of the DP page and thought you folks might be interested to hear an opinion about it. I bought one a year ago and have taken it with me whenever I go detecting because where I go is out of cell phone range. I am highly impressed with this little gizmo. It is about the size of a pack of smokes, it's very lightweight and easy to hook onto a harness or belt loop. I won't go into too many details but I encourage anyone who is interested in getting a satellite communicator that works very well to look into this one.It is a relative new kid on the block - but it has great and responsive customer service. It uses an app on your phone so, for instance, you can type a message on your phone but send it with the Zoleo if you are out of phone range and family or friends who download the app can use it to contact you as well. It has a check-in button to say "I'm okay" and gives the coordinates. It uses the Iridium satellite network…the good one…to relay a help call in case of trouble, with all the help that call triggers. It is worth reading up about, there is a lot in a small well-thought-out package. I have no association with the company. Oh, and Happy Holidays to everyone...

You never fail to impress Lunk. Inspired detecting...

I spent 4 summers in the late 70s and early 80s dredging in the Mother Lode, 20 feet down moving boulders the size of Volkswagons, and yes, those rivers were loaded with gold if you were willing to work for it.

What do rain people dress their detectors in?

A Hipstick gives me perfect coil control, provided I pay attention to what I'm doing. Whether it's a bungie, a Hipstick or a swing arm, the key is to pay attention to what you're doing, those helpers do not automatically give you good coil control.

(Another) nice find Rob. An interesting comparison test with the 6000 as well. Thanks for taking the time to tell us about it. I have been constantly amazed at the small gold I am finding with the 7000 and the NF coil. It's crazy. Two of the recent flakes I've found do not set off my scale that goes down to two decimal places. The weight of the detector is the biggest problem, I am 5' 7" 135 pounds so my lifesaver has been the Hipstick.

(oh god…)

I like the search. If it's out in the middle of nowhere, so much the better. It is the most unencumbered feeling I have ever experienced. For some reason gold is a symbol of something more that is indefinable - it's all about the subtleties.